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Four baby owls, bred in captivity at the Fauna Center of Camadoca (Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalan Government) fly over Segura Viudas’ properties. This is a new action of Heredad within the program of promotion of the environment diversity in which they participate as a custody entity of SEO-BirdLife.

Breeding by using the hacking technique consists on placing chickens in an artificial nest in the territory where intends to reintroduce the species. These chicks were bred in captivity in contact with adults of their species and are placed in the nest when they have passed the imprinting phase.

Segura Viudas’ team offers the birds a daily accompaniment and guidance and, without being seen, provides them with food. When owls learn to fly, a fence that currently covers the way out will be removed so birds could go and explore the area and be back whenever they wish. They will find food in the nest until it could be certified that they are self-sufficient and can be fully incorporated into the ecosystem. As birds would choose the same place where they have been bred for breeding, its expected they would stay in the territory and raise their own babies there in the following years, so the species would establish in the place.

The owl, declared Bird of 2018 by SEO-BirdLive, is the unique representative of the family of Barn-owls (Tytonidae) throughout the European region, and in the recent years their population has descended due to different causes, among them, the transformations of the rural environment (change in crops, abuse of pesticides, loss of places to nest). These nocturnal birds are key to regulate the ecosystem thanks to their diet, mostly based on rodents and insects.